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Monday, November 14, 2011

DHANNOBARI - A Tale of 2 Villages (Part II)

Chitha’s
last statement shook Moushumi. Till now she had held a shimmer of hope to meet
the infamous Kamesh Mazumdar for whom she had developed a liking! But after all
the craziness, excitement and suffering she had endured on that dreadful day, she
was too tired physically and mentally to mourn the loss of a would-have-been unlikely hero for
her book. Tigers were fast asleep and crocodiles seemed to be off the water for
the moment. They were deep into the forest now and she was wondering how much
more she wanted to go on in the faintest hope of finding some place or somebody!

“Nothing exists beyond the Champak forest. At least no one was left alive to
see it!”, she had been warned by the most experienced fisherman in the village.
Chitha somehow was still unfazed and oblivious to the dangers ahead as he continued
to battle the tide with effortless ease. His complete lack of concern in not
knowing the destination of their journey surprised Moushumi. The night had set in and the river started to glow in the moonlight. Kusum escorted
Moushumi into a small cabin where she had prepared a small beautiful bed with a rug and
some saris. Dead tired, Moushumi dropped on the bed and Kusum draped her with another sari. Moushumi pulled her and tucked her into the bed.

“Good
night. See you both in the morning. Yell if you need something”, Moushumi’s
fading eyes saw Chitha’s face disappear in the dark.

16th
August 1964 – 9:45 PM: “Parvati (Headmaster’s daughter): Memsaheb.. promise me
that you will not discuss this with anyone. I don’t know what sort of book you
are writing. But things here are not always black and white. Sarpanch and
Darogaji run things their way nowadays. I think Panditji is also involved and there
are others too. They get major shares of the farmers’ crops. They don’t allow us to
trade. Since we were cut off from our neighboring villages, facilities and raw
materials for farming are diminishing and there is serious lack of irrigation
coupled with excessive flooding. And they are blaming all this on Kalimaa’s
curse!

You know, every year they have a secret practice of sacrificing a
diseased child to Kalimaa. They reasoned that the child will anyways die in a
couple of years and made the unquestioning villagers believe that it is not so cruel after all. When Kamesh
Babu was here, he persuaded his father Ashok Babu to stop this practice. Since
then stranger things have happened. Ashok Babu died the same year and then Kamesh
Babu disappeared. But the strangest thing of all is, every year after that, the
child chosen for sacrifice disappears a week or two before the ceremony is
planned. I really didn’t believe in spirits so far, but now I think I may be wrong!

Oh..
Kamesh babu.. He looked like a good man. Charming! He was nice to all of us.
His thinking was unacceptable to a few and respected by others. He wanted to do
a lot for women in terms of respect, status and education. He wanted widows to
have a new life. But he was a little weird too. He used to disappear for months
and then suddenly when everyone had forgotten him he would be back. He was a
major traveler and explorer. He was radical in both his thinking and in his actions.
He was in love with a widow. Her name was Dhanno! Both of them were
instrumental in educating and reforming the villagers. But just when the first
signs of change started to show in the village, Ashok Babu died mysteriously.
Soon after, Kamesh and Dhanno disappeared and there is no word of them yet.
Some say the river consumed them while others say it is the tiger! Panditji
says Kalimaa punished them for their sins! I don’t know what really happened
but I am scared. I don’t have much hope left but still everyday I pray for a
miracle!”

Chitha’s
face was tight with anguish as he was looking at Moushumi’s notebook. He looked out at the
river and into vacuum and a single tear started to make its way down from his eyes. He forgot all
about his surroundings and allowed the flood of memories to erode his mind
and come gushing out through his eyes. Finally when he came back to reality he
noticed that the first rays of daybreak had set in and Moushumi was staring at
him in sheer astonishment! It was an exclamation point!

"So
you are Kamesh Mazumdar! But.. But….??", she was gasping!

“Kamesh
Chitharanjan Mazumdar!” The pain in his eyes had eased out but she could still
sense an irreplaceable loss that continued to strangle him deep inside.

Words deserted both of them for a while!

“I
came back to Vithrapur with a heart full of life and mind full of ideas. I
wanted my village to be a role model for every Indian village in the future. I
wanted the people to be self sufficient, educated, resourceful and most
importantly, happy and united. I wanted the women to be an integral part of the
village and I wanted everyone in the village to shed their differences and join
hands in building a village which would be the first of its kind in this
country in terms of agriculture, development, trade and education. I had my father as my mentor who supported me as a beacon of hope in my quest. I found the
woman of my life and the zeal inside me went several notches higher. Sure there
were hiccups in the form of superstition, conservatism, lack of awareness, lack
of intent, blind ancestral beliefs and faiths and corrupt practices and people.
But slowly I was able to influence the minds of many in the village and infuse
my vision into their minds.

It
was like a silent revolution that was brewing in the middle of the night. A
thousand match sticks held up high guiding us to a new dawn! But then, suddenly
something happened that changed everything. I was very proud of myself when I
managed to stop the mindless sacrifice ritual that was a disgrace to our
society. I was relieved that no child would be subject to such cruelty ever
again. Little did I know that Kalimaa
did have her offering that year as well! It was my father! I lost my biggest pillar of
strength. For the first time in my life a sense of fear and doubt engulfed my mind. It was as if a storm had extinguished all our match sticks and
darkness seemed to eclipse the dawn! I was left with the option of suffering a
similar fate as my father or flee to fight another day another way!”

“I
was only human!” For the first time Moushami
saw a vulnerability in his face!

“What
happened to Dhanno?”, she immediately regretted asking the question!